Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks rose, halting a
two-day slide, as phone stocks gained after foreign competitors
signaled no intention to join a wireless-spectrum auction and
BlackBerry Ltd. pared declines after agreeing to a buyout.

BlackBerry was unchanged, erasing earlier losses of as much
as 8.2 percent, after saying it has a deal to sell itself for
$4.7 billion to a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.
Rogers Communications Inc. rose 1.2 percent as Canada’s three
largest phone carriers placed deposits to bid in a spectrum
auction that is not expected to attract a foreign competitor.
National Bank of Canada climbed 0.9 percent to pace gains among
the nation’s lenders. Catamaran Corp. dropped 3.5 percent after
Morgan Stanley cut its rating on the stock.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 4.71 points,
or less than 0.1 percent, to 12,811.18 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The
benchmark Canadian equity gauge has surged 5.6 percent this
quarter and is up 3 percent in 2013. Trading volume was 3.3
percent above the 30-day average.

“The big news event today was BlackBerry,” said John
O’Connell, chief executive officer with Davis Rea Ltd. in
Toronto. The firm manages about C$600 million. The gains among
phone stocks show “the markets were overreacting to the threat
of an entrance from foreign telecoms,” he said.

The S&P/TSX traded little changed for most of the morning
session before the BlackBerry announcement sent the index up by
as much as 0.2 percent. The company’s shares erased an earlier
drop to turn as high as 4.1 percent before finishing the day
unchanged at C$9.08.

$4.7 Billion

That’s roughly in line with the $9 a share offered by a
group led by Fairfax, its largest shareholder, in a tentative
deal. The deal values BlackBerry at a 3.1 percent premium over
its closing price last week.

The stock plunged 16 percent Sept. 20 after the company
released second-quarter earnings on that fell short of analysts’
estimates. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company also said it’s
cutting 4,500 jobs and taking a writedown of as much as $960
million for unsold inventory of its Z10 phone -- a touch-screen
device unveiled in January as its answer to the iPhone.

The acquirers will have six weeks to scrutinize
BlackBerry’s books, a span in which the smartphone maker can
seek other takeover offers. Fairfax, a financial services
holding company, added 1.1 percent to C$420.45.

Wireless carriers rallied after the industry’s largest
domestic players applied to bid in a wireless spectrum auction
on Jan. 14, according to a list on Industry Canada’s website.

Incumbents Rally

The roster of applicants doesn’t appear to include major
foreign players. Verizon Communications Inc. said Sept. 3 it
wouldn’t enter the Canadian market after saying earlier in the
summer it was exploring the idea.

It’s “good for incumbents,” Greg MacDonald, an analyst in
Toronto at Macquarie Capital Markets, said in an e-mail,
referring to the three largest companies.

Financial firms advanced. National Bank rose 0.9 percent to
C$85.78 and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce gained 0.8
percent to C$83.47. Royal Bank of Canada, the nation’s largest
lender, added 0.5 percent to C$66.26.

Materials producers declined as prices for metals from gold
to copper slumped amid speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will
reduce fiscal stimulus, outweighing data from China showing a
preliminary manufacturing index gauge climbed more than expected
in September.

Catamaran Slide

Catamaran, a pharmacy benefits management company, slumped
3.5 percent to C$49.29, the lowest close since May. The stock
has lost 14 percent since customer Walgreen Co. said on Sept. 17
it is moving staff into a private health exchange. Analysts with
Morgan Stanley today lowered Catamaran’s rating to equal weight,
the equivalent of a hold.

Agrium Inc., North America’s third-largest fertilizer
producer, lost 3.1 percent to C$89.49, the biggest drop since
July 30. The company said earnings will fall in its wholesale
unit this quarter because of declines in sales volumes of as
much as 30 percent compared with a year earlier.

Prices for potash, a major fertilizer used to strengthen
crops, have declined since OAO Uralkali, the world’s biggest
producer, pulled out of a trading venture with Belarus in July
and said it would sell its product at a lower price.